Also known as The Payola$, this late 70’s Vancouver, British Columbia based pub punk band was a popular club act who put out some indie singles, and signed to Miles Copeland’s IRS label, releasing their debut EP “Introducing” in 1980. Copeland had the rollicking anti-corporate radio track ‘Jukebox’ featured on the I.R.S Greatest Hits Vols. 2 & 3 dbl LP in 1981. Later efforts were less rambunctious, characterized by frontman Paul Hyde’s moody vocals, as the group toned down their approach to a more AOR sound, and moved over to mothership label A&M.
The quintet recorded 1981’s In a Place Like This (produced by guitarist Bob Rock), which was a critical success, but a commercial flop. It included a remake of “Jukebox” — and yet another remake of “China Boys” — as well as more proletarian laments like the title track and “Whiskey Boy”. In 1983, they won several Canadian Juno awards for the album ‘No Stranger To Danger’ which was produced by Mick Ronson. The LP featured the track “Eyes Of a Stranger” one of their best known songs, having also appeared in the US film Valley Girl.
Later in 1983, the Payolas released the album “Hammer on a Drum” (also produced by Ronson, with the Payolas) to greater commercial and popular acclaim in Canada, yet without stateside support, the band’s fortunes languished. Their next album 1985’s “Here’s the World for Ya” was released under the name Paul Hyde and the Payolas, in an attempt to move away from their controversial moniker. Despite hiring a hit producer Paul foster, the record tanked and the band was dropped.
While praised up north for their sound, the mainstream US music industry never fully embraced the group, and it’s rumored that Dick Clark refused to let the Payolas appear on American Bandstand unless they changed their name.
The Payloas eventually split in 1986 and Hyde and guitarist Bob Rock released an album on Capitol Records entitled “Under the Volcano” as Rock & Hyde, they toured, and had three minor Canadian hit singles before they ended up going their separate ways.
Hyde went solo while Winnipeg born Guitarist Bob Rock went on to produce Metallica’s best selling albums and several other records by big name bands including David Lee Roth, Motley Crue, Aerosmith, the Cranberries, American Hi-Fi, Bryan Adams, Tal Bachman, Bon Jovi, and The Cult.
After a long hiatus, in July 2007, the Payolas released a seven-song EP, ‘Langford Part One’. The current Payolas line-up reunites the late 1980s band of Rock, Hyde, drummer Chris Taylor and bassist Alex “A-Train” Boynton — a line-up that, ironically, had performed as “Paul Hyde and The Payolas” and as “Rock and Hyde”, but prior to this reunion, had never performed as the Payolas. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.